Jensen soared into the sky, thoughts flickering through his mind.
"This Barbatos sure gets proactive when it comes to protecting his own statue."
That mysterious power that had twisted Stormterror's tornado away, sparing the statue of the Anemo Archon, was without a doubt the work of the hidden Anemo Archon, Barbatos.
Jensen flew straight into the tornado that had swallowed Lumine.
An ordinary person who entered a tornado like this would be torn to shreds instantly.
But the two of them were both Anemo users, so they could just barely protect themselves in these conditions.
The black twister hurled them upward, carrying them through the clouds into the open sky.
The sudden contrast from that earlier world of darkness and chaos to a bright blue sky and white clouds made their eyes struggle to adjust for a moment.
Their Wind Gliders were open as they slowly descended back toward the cloud layer.
"Jensen, why did you rush in?" Lumine looked at him, her clear eyes shimmering.
She had seen it just now, Jensen had opened his Wind Glider and deliberately slammed into the tornado.
"I was afraid something might happen to you," Jensen answered honestly. "Did I not tell you to pay attention to your own safety?"
A faint blush colored Lumine's cheeks. "I was a bit distracted just now, so I did not react in time."
Jensen was just about to say something when his expression shifted.
"It is here."
He reached out and wrapped an arm around Lumine's slender waist, twisting them around in midair.
Stormterror's open jaws swept past them, its massive body roaring by. The force of the wind from its passing sent the two of them tumbling through several uncontrolled spins before they finally steadied again.
"Are you alright?"
Jensen let out a breath of relief.
"Mm, I actually sensed it too," Lumine murmured, her voice growing even more embarrassed.
She had originally wanted to pull Jensen away with her.
But her body had not reacted fast enough, and the result had flipped around completely. Now she was the one being held in a princess carry.
"Lumine, your skirt is flying up."
Paimon popped into existence and commented helpfully.
"Ah!"
Lumine finally noticed that the wind had flipped her skirt up, exposing a stretch of snow white thigh above her over knee white stockings. Thankfully she was at least wearing short shorts underneath.
Even so, it was enough to make her want to sink into the clouds.
She hurriedly yanked her skirt down with both hands, face burning bright red.
Paimon, meanwhile, had noticed something strange. "Huh? Why are we not falling at all? Jensen, can your Wind Glider hover in midair like this?"
Paimon truly deserved her title as the Traveler's best partner. She had come in to break the awkward mood at exactly the right time, even if it was almost certainly unintentional.
"It is I who have sent you the thousand year winds, so you will not fall... Now imagine this. You can shape this wisp of wind and let it pierce through the clouds."
A gentle voice sounded beside their ears.
It was the voice carried by the wind itself.
At the same time, an Anemo sigil condensed in front of them.
Jensen felt that he could move that sigil, gathering the thousand year winds into it, turning them into an arrow of wind that could be shot forth.
"Whose voice is that?" Paimon spun around, trying to find the source.
"Barbatos," Jensen answered.
"The Anemo Archon?" Lumine was taken aback as well.
She had not expected to receive the aid of Mondstadt's god of wind, whose name was supported by an entire city's faith.
"Lumine, you control it."
Jensen had her spread her Wind Glider and stand in the air.
"What about you?" Lumine asked.
"I am going to go and try Stormterror myself in a moment."
Jensen clenched his hand. It felt like he was gripping something that was not there.
Lumine did not ask further. She focused on manipulating the gathered wind sigils, launching arrow after arrow of Anemo energy toward Stormterror.
With Barbatos' help, they were always able to stay on Stormterror's tail, attacking from behind. No matter how the dragon twisted and rolled through the sky, it could not find a good angle to strike back at them.
Roar...
Stormterror's roar was laced with unwilling rage.
Its eyes, filled with hatred, locked onto the two of them, and perhaps onto Barbatos as well. Then it spread its wings wide and flew toward even higher skies.
"It is trying to escape," Lumine said.
"Yeah."
Jensen saw it clearly now. "Wind King's Barrier."
The instant he spoke, powerful Anemo energy erupted from his body.
The Wind Glider at his back beat once, and he shot forward like a bolt of green light.
He streaked toward Stormterror, closing the distance to the fleeing dragon at terrifying speed.
If you could fine tune a motorcycle engine, applying Wind King's Barrier to a Wind Glider was child's play.
"Oh?"
Barbatos' voice now carried a hint of surprise.
"Concentrating Anemo into a single point and releasing it, creating tremendous wind pressure and vacuum to propel yourself forward..."
"And at the same time reducing air resistance in front of you. That speed is basically the same as chaining acceleration rings nonstop in a short time. He can easily catch up to Dvalin like this."
"So this is the power Jensen has mastered? What does he intend to do?"
The Anemo Archon sounded genuinely interested now.
"Wow, Jensen is going to crash into Stormterror!"
Paimon cried out nervously.
Up ahead in the distant sky, they could see it clearly.
Jensen gripped an invisible greatsword in his hand and brought it down hard on a purple red crystal embedded in Stormterror's back.
Boom...
Stormterror, which had been flying almost straight upward, was suddenly smashed downward by the heavy blow.
It let out a pained howl and cast a glance back at Jensen.
Then it beat its wings again and climbed higher into the sky.
Dvalin assumed this had to be a blessing from Barbatos upon that human, and it did not want to tangle with a chosen champion.
"Tch."
Jensen hovered in the high air, gaze faintly displeased as he looked down at several places on Mondstadt's land that were now glowing with strange light.
"The Temples of the Four Winds are packing this much power?"
"I thought with the world level still this low, and with Stormterror fighting on Mondstadt's turf, I might be able to see whether I could settle things directly myself."